Suvechha Sarkar
The legendary game show, ABC’s ‘Match Game’, is back, and it has never looked this glamorous or felt this wild. Its return for its much-anticipated season 6 brings a new level of jaw-dropping celebrity moments and unpredictable fun. This time, Martin Short takes charge and steps into the hosting spotlight. Episode 1 kicks the doors wide open with a jaw-dropping guest lineup consisting of Kevin Nealon, Selena Gomez, BD Wong, Anthony Anderson, Cara Delevingne, and the razor-sharp Ziwe Fumudoh. Whether they crack up at each other’s answers or outwit the questions themselves, this celebrity panel wastes no time delivering the unfiltered fun the audience craves.
Round One of the Game Delivers Hilarity at Every Step of the Way
The game night officially begins as Martin takes the stage and welcomes everyone. He then introduces the stars of the episode: Martin’s co-star from ‘Only Murders in the Building,’ Selena Gomez, global fashion icon Cara Delevingne, comedian and actor Kevin Nealon, actor Anthony Anderson, comedian and writer Ziwe Fumudoh, and Martin’s co-star from ‘Father of the Bride,’ BD Wong. Right after, he proceeds to introduce the first two contestants of the night – Joy and Jordan. The latter is a drag queen and reveals that he is better known as Misty Waterfalls, who makes his own wigs, and even makes his own costumes. When it’s Joy’s turn, she discloses that 35 years ago, her husband had given her the name, and after he passed away, she officially changed her name to Joy.
Martin announces that Joy and Jordan are going to get two questions to try and match the answers with as many of the six stars as possible. The one to match more goes on to play the Super Match and stands a chance to win $25,000. The host randomly chooses Joy to go first, who selects Option A to fill in the blanks: “Cara Delevingne is ridiculously famous, and so are her eyebrows. They are so famous, they’ve been seen walking the red carpet at the __.” After all the stars lock in their answers, Joy reveals her answer as “Oscars.” When it’s the turn for the celebrities to announce their answers, it turns out that both Selena and Kevin have answered “Oscars” as well, providing the contestant with two points.
However, Cara, Anthony, Ziwe, and BD Wong gave Met Ball, AVN Competition, sex with Martin, and the International Threading Competition as their answers, respectively. It is now Jordan’s chance to provide an answer to the following: “Chad said my safe word is vanilla. The lady at the bank said Great, I’m happy for you, but all I need is your ___.” It turns out Jordan has provided his answer as “ID.” To his delight, he discovers that Selena, Kevin, and Anthony have all matched the same answer. However, Cara, Ziwe, and BD have responded with hard cash, money, and a password, respectively. By the end of the first round, Jordan is in the lead with 3 points, and Joy has 2 points.
After a Tie, Joy Advances to the Super Match
For the second round, Jordan is going to face the question first. Martin explains to him that since in the previous round he matched with Selena, Kevin, and Anthony, he can match with the rest of them for this round. His question is: “You always hear about people getting murdered on the White Lotus. That’s why I stay at the Jalil White Lotus, where you get nerdy Urkel vibes and housekeeping always leaves ___ on your pillow.” This time, Jordan’s answer is “Glasses,” but sadly, Cara, Zewe, and BD have all given “Chocolates” as their response, leading to zero points. Martin then informs Joy that she needs 1 point to tie and 2 to win and grab the chance at $25,000. For this round, she has to match with every celebrity except Selena and Kevin.
Joy has to answer the question: “In trouble news, Adam and Eve are looking for a third. Applicants must be cool with nudity, heavy gardening, and ___.” After Joy discloses her response to be “snakes,” she learns that Cara also said snakes, making it a tie between the contestants. Although right after, Anthony says “orgasms,” Joy wins the round when Ziwe also reveals her answer to be snakes. After Jordan bids goodbye, Martin announces that it is time for the Super Match, where Joy has a shot at winning $25,000. Upon asking, she opens up about how recently her automobile died and couldn’t be repaired. Hence, for the first time in 54 years, she is going to get a sparkly blue car. Moving on, the host elaborates that they will start with an audience match, which was recently asked of the home audience to get their most popular answers for the blank.
If Joy can guess the third most popular response, she can win $2,000; the second-most popular one is worth $3,000, and the most popular response is $5,000. For this, she can seek help from three of the celebrities. After contemplation, she selects Selena, Kevin, and Ziwe. They have to guess the answer to “Just for ___.” They each provide their respective responses, which are fun, laughs, and kicks. When Joy goes with laughs as her answer, it turns out that it is the third-most popular answer, earning her $2,000. However, the first and second-most top answers are “fun” and “you.” Martin informs her that now she can multiply her winning of $2,000 by the Celebrity Head-to-Head Match, where she can win $10,000 if she can match their answer precisely. She decides to go with Selena, who has to answer, “Cat ___.” Sadly, Joy has answered “nip,” unlike Selena, who has responded with “fish.” In the end, Joy leaves the competition with just $2,000.
The Second Half of the Night Brings a New Set of Contestants
As the second part of the show begins, Martin jokes with Kevin about drinking coffee, while the latter playfully states that he is drinking scotch soda. After another humorous moment when the host jokes with Anthony, he introduces the next two contestants, Kwame and Missy. The latter is a Preschool Teacher and has been a Senior Fitness Instructor for 9 years. She elaborates that she teaches everyone from little kids to seniors, ranging in age from 4 to 90. When the host insists, she playfully adds that Kevin can try doing some bicep curls with weights. On the other hand, Kwame has been working at the best African market in New Jersey. He discloses that he has been living there with his family for 20 years, and if anyone needs tofu or gelo rice, he is the person to go to.
After explaining the rules to them once again, he randomly chooses Kwame to go first. He has to answer the question: “Dr. Seuss wrote the beloved children’s book, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, but he also wrote a version for senior citizens titled All the places you’ll ___.” The contestant provides his answer as “Sleep,” but unfortunately, it matches none of the answers given by the celebrities. While Selena, Cara, and Ziwe have provided “die” as their response, Kevin has answered with “poop.” On the other hand, Anthony and BD have chosen “forget” and “forget to go” as their answers. Sadly, Kwame has not received any points for this round. It is now Missy’s turn, who faces the question: “Sir Lancelot said, I made the biggest mistake a knight could make shopping at Temu. The last suit of armor I ordered was a knock off made of ___.”
After all the celebrities lock their answer, Missy reveals her response to be “Tin Foil.” It is soon disclosed that she has matched with Anthony and BD, who have answered aluminium foil and tin foil respectively, helping her earn 2 points. The funny responses from Selena, Cara, Kevin, and Ziwe include latex, polyester, cotton, and plastic. By the beginning of the second round, Kwame and Missy’s points stand at zero and 2, respectively. It is now Missy’s chance to go first, and this time, she can match with everyone else, except Anthony and BD. Her question is: “LGBTQ actor BD Wong was made an MD for the FBI on Law and Order SVU. If he had anymore letters, we could call him a ___.” Unfortunately, none of the answers match her response of “Doctor.” While Selena and Cara have provided “queen” and “STD” as their answers, Kevin and Ziwe have both responded with the “alphabet.”
As Kwame Misses the Mark, Missy Takes the Lead
It is now the turn for Kwame, who can match with any of the six celebrities. He has to respond to the question, “I once had a dentist named Ruth, always drunk on gin and vermouth. She wrapped up the drill, said lie back and sit still, then bored a hole in my ___, not my tooth.” After the stars lock in their answers, Kwame declares his answer to be “booth” and explains that it means “b*tt.” Martin informs him that he has to match with three celebrities to win and two to tie the game. Unfortunately, he once again receives no matches because the responses from Selena, Cara, Kevin, Anthony, Ziwe, and BD are pants, skull, achoo, chin, mouth, and face. By the end of the second round, he loses by 2 points to Missy and ends up going home.
Missy now has the chance to win $25,000 by playing the Super Match. The contestant shares that if she wins the money, she will open up a fitness studio for people of all ages, whether for kids or seniors. Once again, the host explains that the top, second, and third-most popular answers by the audience can earn her $5,000, $3,000, and $2,000, respectively. For this question, she has to respond to, “That’s so ___.” She takes aid from Kevin, Anthony, and BD, who provide responses: cool, raven, and fly. After consideration, Missy selects Raven as her own answer. The suspense builds as the host reveals “funny” and “fetch” as the second and third-most popular responses. To her absolute delight, she learns that the top answer is indeed “raven,” thus winning $5,000.
Now that Missy has won $5,000, she has the chance to win $25,000 for the Celebrity Head-to-Head Match. Martin expresses his faith that she can win the prize money and asks her to choose a star. She picks Anthony for the Match, and they have to fill in the blanks: “___ Wash.” As soon as Missy reveals her answer to be “car,” the celebrities erupt with excitement because Anthony also has the same response. By the end of the first episode, the players walk away with $25,000. With congratulations in order, the eyes are now on the next episode to see what the celebrities and Martin have in store for the contestants.
